Friday, March 4, 2016

A gun here, a gun there, everywhere a hand gun

Here we go again. Yep. Our beloved GOP (Guns Over Phoenix) Senators have voted to allow guns in public buildings. No matter. Our over-funded schools and universities can just cough up the dough to pay for metal detectors. Here 's the story from the Daily Star.

SB 1257 would overrule existing laws that allow government agencies to declare their buildings to be weapons-free zones by posting signs at entrances and providing lockers so those who are armed can store their guns. Instead, the agencies would have to buy and install metal detectors and have staffers available to check those coming in.

And if the agencies did not, then those who have state-issued permits would be free to ignore the signs.

Here's a sample of the discussion in the senate.

Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, chided colleagues for imposing a financial burden on local governments to hire the staff and buy the equipment.

But Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said there is no burden at all. He said there is an alternative: Don’t put up the detectors and let permit holders keep their weapons with them.

SB 1257 passed with a party-line vote, 18 to 12, and has been sent to the House. Former Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed an earlier version of this bill. Now we get to see whether the education Governor, Doug Ducey, will impose this burden on educational institutions. (Whoa. I said what? "education Governor"? My bad.)